An Accidental Love
by Screaming Faeries
Summary: Narcissa has a secret. With her childish, girly feelings, and despite having a wonderful boyfriend, she can't help but develop an attraction for the scruffy haired boy with the glasses. Written for the Female Character Prompt Challenge (Anna Karenina), and also with prompts used from the reposted Essie Nail Polish Names Challenge.


**A.N: **For the Female Characters prompt challenge, with the prompt Anna Karenina - Anna fell in love with someone who she shouldn't have. Write about someone who falls in love accidentally. Alternatively, write about Narcissa Malfoy. I also used prompts from the Reposted Essie Nail Polish Prompts, #63: Infatuation, #76: China Doll and #81: Carnival.

* * *

oOo

It was the Christmas holidays when we were teenagers. I was fifteen, young, I loved everyone and everything around me. I didn't know anything, back then, but I thought I knew it all.

There was rumour of a Carnival being held, on a field somewhere out in the suburbs. There was a lot of general chatter about it, in our household, anyway.

"Muggles!" Our mother was scoffing, taking a huge gulp of the Daisyroot in her glass. "They gather in the most stupid places! Carnival! What is a Carnival?" She shook her long, dark hair out of her face and slammed her glass down on the table. My sister, Bellatrix, grinned up at our mother, delighted.

"I'm glad you say that, Mother. I'm thinking we should go up there and cause some trouble, what do you say, Cissy?" She nudged me, winking. I wasn't really interested in degrading and upsetting the local Muggles, really, but I didn't want to head the same way my other sister was going. Andromeda sat at the other side of the table, her hair hanging into her face, pushing her food around her plate quietly. I nodded at Bellatrix, trying to look enthusiastic.

The truth was, I wanted to go to the Carnival. Not for the same reasons as Bellatrix, and not even because I was remotely interested in the Carnival. But I knew that a certain boy from school was going to be there, because I'd accidentally seen a letter from him, addressed to my cousin Sirius, saying that he was going to be there. James Potter.

It was a ridiculous infatuation I had with the Gryffindor boy. In reality, I hated him completely – he was ridiculously annoying, and my boyfriend, Lucius, disliked him passionately, as did one of Lucius' friends, Severus. In fact, he was hated by most of the Slytherins indefinitely. He was cocksure, immature, and obviously thought he was somebody. He, and my cousin, were the best of friends, and were constantly getting up to hijinks and causing trouble pretty much all of the time during school hours; it was a surprise he managed to actually get any work done.

But…there was something about him that just lured me in. He had dark hair and bright eyes that were hidden behind his spectacles. His laugh was infectious and just made me want to smile whenever I heard it. People were generally happy in his presence, even the people that didn't like him as much. He was a joker, and an all-round entertaining person to be with.

Sometimes, I would watch him with his crowd of Gryffindor followers, and wish I could be over there, sitting with his friends and laughing at his jokes. Unnoticed by my Slytherin friends and sisters, I would try and make him notice me. I'd give him the occasional deep stare at him from across the potions classroom. A small smile in the corridors, keeping my eyes focused on his as we passed. I'd toss my long, blonde hair over my shoulder if he passed me in the grounds. It all went unnoticed by the people I wanted not to see, thankfully, but sadly it also went unnoticed by James.

He was completely in loved with the Mudblood girl, Lily Evans. She was a vision, a rambunctious, red headed teen with a hot temper and a strange friendship with Severus. I think that was the reason Severus hated James so much; because he got the most attention from Lily, who I was quite sure Severus was undoubtedly in love with.

I was hopeful I could make James privately notice me tonight. But unfortunately, Bellatrix was in my ear, telling me that Lucius had also told her earlier that day, that he wanted to accompany us to the Carnival. Right on cue, there was a knock on the door. I stood up to answer it, and my beautiful blonde boyfriend was stood there, showing me every white tooth in a dazzling smile.

Lucius was the exact definition of a china doll. He was perfect and pristine in every way, right down to his slick, oiled black shoes. His skin and hair was flawless, and his blood had been pure for generations and generations. My mother was _very _impressed to hear that I was dating him, and Bellatrix had told me privately that she was already planning our wedding for when I graduated from Hogwarts. I heard her standing up from the table as Lucius bent and kissed me on the cheek delicately.

"Lucius, is that you?" She called out sweetly.

"Yes, it's me, Mrs Black," he replied in his smooth, deep voice. My mother came bustling down the hall and held out her cheek for Lucius to kiss too, and I stepped back, allowing her to ask Lucius a hundred questions on how his mother and father were doing, and what the Malfoys thought of this Carnival madness.

"Are you going like that, Cissy?" Bellatrix asked me. She had changed from her standard black robes and was dressed in her best "casual" clothes, which included a knee length black skirt and a tight black vest top. I nodded, already being in casual clothes. I rarely sat in my robes when I was sat in the house, and I had a feeling the field the Carnival was being held in would be muddy and dirty; the rain we'd had earlier in the day told me as much.

"Leave Malfoy alone, Mother," Bellatrix laughed jovially as she linked arms with me and we headed towards the door, where my boyfriend was still being harassed by our mother. She stepped back and pulled a face at the three of us. "Oh, I do hate seeing you in those dreadful Muggle clothes," she muttered in disgust, but we were already on our way out of the double doors.

* * *

An hour later, we were at the Carnival, and it wasn't anything like I'd expected it to be. Even though there was no magic being used there (obviously, being hosted and filled with Muggles), it seemed to hold such a strange, magical quality. There was tinkering music playing almost everywhere, the lights – bright red, orange and yellow lights – glowed in every direction. There were teenage girls shrieking and laughing at their boyfriends, and couples kissing in the middle of it all. There were Dodgems and a Ferris Wheel and something that I overhead a Muggle boy calling a_ Helter Skelter_. But I wasn't really paying attention to the things going on around me, I was craning around, looking for that certain someone.

"Do you want to have a go on that wheel thing, Narcissa?" Lucius asked me smoothly. I looked up at him, and then up at the wheel, and shook my head.

"No…I don't think so…maybe Bellatrix will go on it." I looked over at my sister, who was already holding her wand slyly in the folds of her skirt, and looking over at a group of thirteen year old muggle girls with a malevolent look in her eye. I nudged her.

"Don't you want to come on it with me?" Lucius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not that I don't want to come on it with you," I replied, smiling at him sweetly. "I just don't really like being suspended up there in the air…you know I'm not that keen on heights, not even on a broomstick!" I gave a little, reassuring laugh. "Maybe when you've come off the wheel, we can go on those little vehicle things," I gestured towards the Dodgems, and Lucius' smile stretched across his beautiful features. He nodded, and grabbed my sister's arm, leading her over to the wheel.

As soon as his back was turned, I walked away from the wheel, in search of my cousin and his best friend.

It didn't take long, apparently. I heard James before I saw him – that infectious laugh again. I was whirring around, trying to look for the source of the laughter, and he crashed into me.

We fell to the floor in a heap of arms and legs. His glasses fell off his face and landed beside me, and his forehead bumped with mine. He made a noise of pain, and I looked up. It was like I'd been plunged into a whole new world; I was swimming in his hazel eyes, and the noises and disruptions of the Carnival around us seemed to be silent all of a sudden. He was searching me with those beautiful, soft eyes, his black hair hanging into my face. I could smell him, he smelled of pumpkin juice and aftershave. "I'm…sorry…" I murmured breathlessly, realising my mouth was only inches away from his.

Suddenly, it was as though he'd never been there. He was being wrenched up, away from me, leaving me laying there on my back in the mud. I blinked, the sounds and sights of the Carnival swimming back into my senses again. Lucius was stood above me, holding James by his shirt. When he finally let go of him, he reached down and pulled me to my feet, brushing me down slightly roughly.

While he fussed over me, asking me if I was okay, I couldn't help but feel some dislike for Lucius right then. The closest I'd ever come to the boy I had an unusual infatuation for had just been wiped away from me, possibly forever. I sighed.

Pull yourself together, Cissy. You're a Slytherin after all, and a Black to boot.

oOo


End file.
